Passenger restraint system fault rendering car unsafe with passenger

[WilsonWilbur85]

Tesla does NOT have to do anything out of warranty that you are not paying them to do. Safety argument means nothing, unless there is something in your state's laws that claim otherwise.
Your only options are to:

1. Leave thing unrepaired
2. Pay up
3. Find a lawyer who finds a way to make Tesla pay up through the court system.

Roughly in the order of what it will cost you.

tesla just messaged me back that the whole service appointment would be covered. I hadn’t even ask for that, just the airbag part that was needing to be replaced because the new sensor in the seat.

 

[JBateson]

tesla just messaged me back that the whole service appointment would be covered. I hadn’t even ask for that, just the airbag part that was needing to be replaced because the new sensor in the seat.

How were you able to convince them to not charge you for the airbag? I am in the exact same boat and it's just crazy to me that they're wanting to replace the airbag that has no issues because of the sensor they're putting in. I have 62k miles, so I get that I'm out of warranty, but it's wild they force you to replace your airbag.

 

[jkdman123]

How were you able to convince them to not charge you for the airbag? I am in the exact same boat and it's just crazy to me that they're wanting to replace the airbag that has no issues because of the sensor they're putting in. I have 62k miles, so I get that I'm out of warranty, but it's wild they force you to replace your airbag.

There seems to be very little rhyme or reason to what they decide to cover or not. I've had great luck in San Diego service centers with things that I 100% did not expect them to cover and they did. All of this despite the leaks of Elon ragging on the whole company to cut costs to the bone.

Other areas, it seems people have to almost threaten litigation for them to fix items that should be covered under warranty. You might ask for a goodwill repair but 62k might be a bit outside the limits of what they'll do for goodwill.

 

[JBateson]

There seems to be very little rhyme or reason to what they decide to cover or not. I've had great luck in San Diego service centers with things that I 100% did not expect them to cover and they did. All of this despite the leaks of Elon ragging on the whole company to cut costs to the bone.

Other areas, it seems people have to almost threaten litigation for them to fix items that should be covered under warranty. You might ask for a goodwill repair but 62k might be a bit outside the limits of what they'll do for goodwill.

Thanks for the feedback JDK. The SRS warranty is up to 60k miles, so maybe it's not that big of a stretch if that's the portion of the warranty that would have covered it.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Thanks for the feedback JDK. The SRS warranty is up to 60k miles, so maybe it's not that big of a stretch if that's the portion of the warranty that would have covered it.

People where having a hard time getting it covered under SRS as Tesla argued the seat is not part of it. You are stretching beyond that given your SRS warranty expired also, so it's a double whammy compared to other cases.

 

[jkdman123]

Thanks for the feedback JDK. The SRS warranty is up to 60k miles, so maybe it's not that big of a stretch if that's the portion of the warranty that would have covered it.

Oh, I thought the initial warranty was only to 50k, If it's 60 then you may be able to get some traction on a goodwill repair. I don't know how on earth they would have ever refused to fix that problem if it were definitely under warranty.

 

[DDE89]

Hi, I saw other posts with similar issues but most vehicles were under warranty.

Just wanted to know if anyone else is having a similar situation.

I have a 2018 Model 3 with about 21000 miles. Today I got an error message "RCM_a056 Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault".

I contacted the service department in the app and went to the service center, I received an estimate for $1,000 to fix the issue.

Part of the charge is around $520 to replace the occupant classification system (OCS).

But my biggest concern is the description, they say they have to charge $430 to update the front passenger airbag to maintain compatibility with the front passenger seat.

Does this make sense?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[apacheguy]

HI -

I have a 2019 Model 3 that is out of warranty as of April 20th.

Last year, I got the "Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault" and it was fixed under warranty. They fixed it by adding "Part - Service Kit OCS REWORK 1479982-00-C) which was described as "Instal Occupant Classification System Filter Module"

I had no issues until late last week when the alert returned again.

The estimate is $1260 and the item charges are as follows:
Replace Front Passenger Seat OCS Component while servicing subcomponents: Labor $195, Parts $185
Parts: 1st Row Assembly Harness - 148906096-F, 1st Row Occupancy Sensor - 1099592-00-F, and !R SBR Box Clip - 1130363-00B.

Update Front Passenger Airbag to Maintain Compatibly with front passenger seat. Labor $310, Parts $490
They are wanting to put a new airbag in the car.

I reached out to service center to clarify why I needed a new airbag. They said "the airbag must be replaced in sequence with the other seat component that needs to be fixed as these two components rely on each other and require compatibility for the SRS system to function as intended"

They claim the issue is different than the issue the car had last year. I am trying to get the airbag half (~60%) waived, so it would be about $400 to fix the issue. I don't want to pay almost $1300 just to get a sensor to turn off but I also want the passenger (should there be one) to be safe.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? Any advice on how to proceed? I thought that Tesla would have to cover the airbag half for sure if they were changing something about the car because it is safety related.

I’m in the same boat. Tesla did a repair for this same issue under warranty which fixed it for a while but I recently had this alert pop up again. Now I’m out of warranty.

A lot of things don’t seem right about this. If Tesla repaired it with a “band aid” fix before shouldn’t they be responsible if their band aid falls off?

 

[stopcrazypp]

I’m in the same boat. Tesla did a repair for this same issue under warranty which fixed it for a while but I recently had this alert pop up again. Now I’m out of warranty.

A lot of things don’t seem right about this. If Tesla repaired it with a “band aid” fix before shouldn’t they be responsible if their band aid falls off?

Nope, according to warranty, they only have to guarantee the fix until original car warranty expires or if fixed out of warranty, 12 months/12.5k miles (or longer if for some specific subcategories).

Vehicle Warranty | Tesla Support

Find and view warranties for Tesla vehicles including New Vehicle Limited Warranty, Used Vehicle Limited Warranty and more.

www.tesla.com

The way to get them responsible out of warranty is if a recall is issued for this.

 

[apacheguy]

What is the effect of not repairing this? Is it actually a safety issue? and what would the implication be (if any) in a collision? I’d be very reluctant to dish out $1,000 for this if safety is not compromised.

 

[stopcrazypp]

What is the effect of not repairing this? Is it actually a safety issue? and what would the implication be (if any) in a collision? I’d be very reluctant to dish out $1,000 for this if safety is not compromised.

Depends on which part is broken. If it's the seat belt sensor then it's may mean the car doesn't warn you when the passenger didn't buckle up. If it's the seat occupancy/weight sensor, depending on which way they designed it, it may mean the air bag either doesn't activate even when a person of suitable weight is in the passenger seat, or it may mean it activates even if someone underweight is in the passenger seat.

 

[apacheguy]

So Tesla wants to charge me a diagnostics fee of $265 just to tell me what the problem is. I’ve paid for Tesla service before but never have they charged a diagnostics fee. Pretty frustrating.

 

[WilsonWilbur85]

I’m in the same boat. Tesla did a repair for this same issue under warranty which fixed it for a while but I recently had this alert pop up again. Now I’m out of warranty.

A lot of things don’t seem right about this. If Tesla repaired it with a “band aid” fix before shouldn’t they be responsible if their band aid falls off?

They fixed mine under warranty. Then it broke and they covered it under srs warranty/extension of previous issue. Then it came back and they covered it 100% again. Including transport.

Id push for at least majority coverage depending on the situation...

 

[KenC]

HI -

I have a 2019 Model 3 that is out of warranty as of April 20th.

Last year, I got the "Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault" and it was fixed under warranty. They fixed it by adding "Part - Service Kit OCS REWORK 1479982-00-C) which was described as "Instal Occupant Classification System Filter Module"

I had no issues until late last week when the alert returned again.

The estimate is $1260 and the item charges are as follows:
Replace Front Passenger Seat OCS Component while servicing subcomponents: Labor $195, Parts $185
Parts: 1st Row Assembly Harness - 148906096-F, 1st Row Occupancy Sensor - 1099592-00-F, and !R SBR Box Clip - 1130363-00B.

Update Front Passenger Airbag to Maintain Compatibly with front passenger seat. Labor $310, Parts $490
They are wanting to put a new airbag in the car.

I reached out to service center to clarify why I needed a new airbag. They said "the airbag must be replaced in sequence with the other seat component that needs to be fixed as these two components rely on each other and require compatibility for the SRS system to function as intended"

They claim the issue is different than the issue the car had last year. I am trying to get the airbag half (~60%) waived, so it would be about $400 to fix the issue. I don't want to pay almost $1300 just to get a sensor to turn off but I also want the passenger (should there be one) to be safe.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? Any advice on how to proceed? I thought that Tesla would have to cover the airbag half for sure if they were changing something about the car because it is safety related.

I got this error after moving the passenger seat all the way forward in order to fit something in back. I decided to move the seat back to its normal position, and no more error.